This invention relates to a vacuum insulating glass (IG) unit. More particularly, this invention relates to a vacuum IG unit including at least one colored spacer/pillar.
Commonly owned U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/348,281 entitled xe2x80x9cPERIPHERAL SEAL FOR VACUUM IG WINDOW UNITxe2x80x9d filed Jul. 7, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,242); Ser. No. 09/303,550 entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG PILLAR WITH DLC COATINGxe2x80x9d filed May 3, 1999 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,067); Ser. No. 09/404,659 filed Sep. 24, 1999 entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG WINDOW UNIT WITH PERIPHERAL SEAL AT LEAST PARTIALLY DIFFUSED AT TEMPERxe2x80x9d (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,984); Ser. No. 09/440,697 filed Nov. 16, 1999 entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG WINDOW UNIT WITH FIBER SPACERSxe2x80x9d; and Ser. No. 09/480,895 filed simultaneously herewith entitled xe2x80x9cVACUUM IG UNIT WITH ALKALI SILICATE EDGE SEAL AND/OR SPACERS, are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Vacuum IG units are known in the art. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,664,395, 5,657,607, 5,891,536 and 5,902,652, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Prior art FIGS. 1-2 illustrate a conventional vacuum IG unit. IG unit 1 includes two spaced apart sheets of glass 2 and 3 which enclose an evacuated or low pressure space 16 therebetween. Glass sheets 2 and 3 are interconnected by peripheral or edge seal of fused solder glass 4 and have an array of support spacers/pillars 5 therebetween.
Pump out tube 8 is sealed by solder glass 9 to an aperture or hole which passes from an interior surface of glass sheet 2 to the bottom of recess 11. A vacuum is attached to tube 8 (prior to the tube being sealed) so that the interior space 16 between sheets 2 and 3 can be evacuated to create a low pressure area. After evacuation, an end of tube 8 is melted to seal the vacuum in space 16. Optionally, getter 12 may be provided within recess 13 to counteract any rise in pressure due to any out-gassing from the glass.
FIG. 3 is a side cross sectional view of another conventional vacuum IG window unit. This unit differs from the FIGS. 1-2 unit, in that its glass sheets are of different sizes so as to provide an L-shaped step around the unit""s periphery, on which edge seal 4 is to be at least partially located. Moreover, this unit includes low-E coating 6 on the interior major surface of glass sheet 3.
Low-E coatings often appear colored (e.g. color tinted) to a viewer. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,462 (hereby incorporated herein by reference) which discloses a low-E coating having a colored appearance which may be xe2x80x9cslightly blue.xe2x80x9d Moreover, known soda-lime-silica glass sheets may also appear colored (e.g. green, rose, blue, and bronze colored glass sheets are known). For examples of colored glass, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,932,502, 5,069,826, 3,723,142, 3,296,004, and 2,524,719, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, spacers or pillars 5 are typically provided between glass sheets 2 and 3 in the viewing area of the window unit. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,395, these spacers or pillars may be made of nickel, iron, molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, titanium, aluminum, steel or stainless alloys. They may also be made of glass as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,154. Unfortunately, because spacers/pillars are often significantly different in appearance (e.g. differently colored) relative to adjacent low-E coating(s) and/or glass substrate(s), they may be considered an eyesore (i.e., aesthetically non-pleasing) to certain persons viewing a window. In other words, because of the stark contrast in appearance between, for example a steel spacer and a blue tinted glass sheet, the spacer is easily seen by one looking through the window.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a vacuum IG unit in which spacers/pillars more closely match adjacent coating(s) and/or substrate(s) in appearance.
This invention will now be described with respect to certain embodiments thereof, accompanied by certain illustrations.
An object of this invention is to provide at least one spacer/pillar in a vacuum IG window unit, the spacer being tinted in color in order to more closely match a color of an adjacent low-E coating(s) and/or an adjacent glass substrate(s).
Another object of this invention is to provide a vacuum IG window unit wherein spacers of the unit include colorant(s) therein so as to substantially match in color an adjacent low-E coating and/or glass substrate.
Another object of this invention is to provide a vacuum IG window unit including spacers which are colored so as to render them less visibly obtrusive to one viewing the window unit.
Another object of this invention is to fulfill any and/or all of the above-listed objects and/or needs.
Generally speaking, this invention fulfills any or all of the above described objects or needs by providing a method of making a thermally insulating panel, said method comprising the steps of:
providing first and second glass substrates;
providing a plurality of colored spacers between said substrates in order to maintain a low pressure space between said substrates; and
selecting color of the colored spacers based upon color of at least one of (a) one of the substrates, and (b) a coating provided on one of said substrates.
This invention further fulfills any or all of the above described objects or needs by providing a thermally insulating glass panel comprising:
first and second spaced apart glass substrates defining a low pressure space therebetween having a pressure less than atmospheric pressure;
a coating having a color tint, said coating supported by a major surface of one of the glass substrates;
a plurality of spacers disposed between the first and second glass substrates for spacing the substrates from one another in order to maintain the low pressure space therebetween; and
wherein at least one of the spacers includes a colorant therein so that the at least one spacer more closely matches in color the color tint of the coating.